Pool-of-Light Negotiation Theater

“Bronfman arrived at the hour appointed for the meeting and was ushered to the door of Desmarais’s boardroom. The curtains were drawn and the overhead lights were turned low. Desmarais was seated at the head of the table, haloed in the pool of light cast by a lone desk lamp at his side. Bronfman had to walk the dim length of the room to join Desmarais, the host, in the light.”

“The pool-of-light technique was not, by the way, entirely a Des¬ marais original. A version of it was used earlier in the decade on Calgary millionaire Max Bell, a major shareholder in Canadian Pacific Railway. He owned The Albertan, a now-defunct Calgary daily news¬ paper whose editorial offices and presses were on land leased from Canadian Pacific’s Marathon Realty. Marathon was going to raise the lease rates on the land by a substantial amount, and Bell went to see Rod Sykes, Marathon’s man in Calgary (and a future mayor of the city), to protest, argue, and maybe browbeat his way out of the increase. Calgary legend has it that Sykes, at the time a man of substantially less power than Bell, greeted Bell with the pool-of-light technique, defusing and diffusing the power that Bell was trying to bring to bear on him. He steadfastly refuted Bell’s arguments and veiled threats, saying the increase was for the good of the shareholders. Bell gave up the fight and eventually lauded Sykes to the CP board for his performance.”